America watched during the 2024 election as people few up with what was happening in between Israel and Palestine turned their anger into protest votes. It caused a lot of ill will, since by definition, a “protest vote” is one that ends up doing nothing if not harm to a candidate who isn’t espousing exactly the beliefs of the person casting that vote.

Protest voting is understandable, and what we saw in 2024 will not be the last of it. People feel like their needs are not being met by either of the two major parties. They also recognize that no third party has a reasonable shot at winning a presidential election. But they want to leverage their support as a way to make their voices heard, after nothing else has worked.

That sentiment was particularly strong among Muslim voters in 2024. They felt that the Biden administration’s funding of Israel’s efforts to eliminate Palestine — and Kamala Harris’s promise to continue that funding — was reprehensible enough to vote for someone else, even if Harris otherwise would have been the candidate most closely matching the rest of what they wanted politically.

But usually, a protest vote is vindicated, at least in the mind of the one who cast it, by being proving right about that one thing that made them vote the way they did.

That’s why it’s got to be doubly bad for Muslim voters after the outcome of the election: Not only did their protests not make a difference in the election (results being what they were, their votes were not significant enough to have changed the outcome), but they also got a measurably worse outcome than what they might have with a Harris presidency.

And since Trump was inaugurated, we’ve seen action after action taken by the new administration that are pretty bad.

But as bad as I feel for folks who wasted their votes and got the short end of the stick as well, I can help but wonder why they think turning to Democrats now to represent them is the right move:

Then: I wont be voting for Democrats

Now: DEMOCRATS DO SOMETHING!!!!

FAFO. pic.twitter.com/LToE2iwpZh

— Alex Cole (@acnewsitics) February 5, 2025

I do understand how the people that voted for Harris feel as well. I voted for her as the only reasonable choice and certainly regret any vote that would have gone to her and didn’t. I would be even more angry if protest voters could have changed the outcome of the race.

But the whole issue is complicated, as you can see from the replies. Many people agree with the sentiment of the poster, Alex Cole:

I’d really like to ask the residents of Dearborn, Michigan how they’re feeling after Trump said he wants to clear out Gaza

— Robert Watson (@BobbyWatson65) February 5, 2025

Yep. Refuse to vote for the people that would actually help, the just aren’t doing everything you want right now. That lets the people that will absolutely ignore you get into power. You chose poorly.

— Scott McColl (@CreepyRunner) February 5, 2025

I understand what she’s saying in her first post and sorry she felt that way. BUT, ya CAN’T have it both ways either. Because of her line of thinking and many others, that part of the reason we are in the predicament that we are in now.

— or B-rad Whos Wondering Whats Up On These Drones (@SammyMoKC) February 5, 2025

Others think that the time for being right is over, and it’s time to get these voters back on board:

Ok, fine. They were idiots. But if you have a chance of defeating the fascists, you need them as allies. When are you going to stop with the “I told you so” and actually do something practical to fight back?

— Adrian P 🇷🇴🇺🇦 (@AdrianP_doc) February 5, 2025

Still others pointed out that the fact that Democrats really aren’t doing much in the way of resisting so far. Some Democrats have voted for Donald Trump’s nominees, and one is even expressing support for Trump’s specific plans in Gaza — to potentially occupy the area ourselves, which would be a literal war crime if we forcibly displaced Palestinians to do so.

This isn’t the flex you think it is. It’s proving the point. When Dems have power, they have every excuse for why they can’t get anything done. When they don’t have power, they just roll over. This is why they lose. The time to show might would be now if they expect to last.

— Dr. Whoa 🔻🌺 (@dastyffychen) February 5, 2025

The problem is right now the Democrats are proving her right.
Where have they been while Trump has been axing everything?
One of the main reasons people didn’t vote for them was pretty much that they don’t feel like the Democrats are fighting for them anymore.

— Darkcobra (@darkcobrabws) February 5, 2025

It’s hard to see “our side” at odds like this, because I see all perspectives here: So many people feel like protest voters have no right to complain, while protest voters are complaining that they only protest voted in the first place because their concerns were never being heard.

This is definitely an issue the Democrats are going to have to address going forward: Do they continue to ignore protest voters and hope for the best, or try to make inroads with people who don’t feel represented? Do the protest voters just give up and take whatever they can get?

It’s a shame the conservative side doesn’t experience any of this.